well.....i've been debating on posting this or not to post it, but here goes. for those of you whom are intrested in a modern way to get Rory's Taste era sound and into his early solo career (Rory Gallagher and Deuce) this is the way i found to get it. now, i'm not into chasing every artist's tone but in the past few years i have REALLY been into Rory's. i have other guitars and amps and i sound like me, first and foremost. when i play through the set up that can get me Rory's Taste sound i sound like me playing through Rory's equipment...period. tone IS in the hands of the artist. now, on with the fruits of my labor, the guitar is a 2011 fender mim strat brown sunburst and rosewood fret board. pickups are fender 57/62 and a 3 way switch. a brass tremolo block and ghs 10-38 ga strings(because Rory used a 40ga for the low E i found a complete set that would offer me a comprimise).the capacitor was the hardest to get i had to find an old radio from around '62 and scavange the caps out of it. i found a .1uf ceramic cap (because that type of cap is what fender used and the ceramic type caps give the guitar a buzzy or as Leo would call it "a bit of hair around the notes", orange drop caps were just too clean and clear. they were too articulate sounding Rory, sound was more raw and that's what the ceramic cap does. the amp is a Vox AC30c2 and to get a more '60s drive sound i use the low input on this amp. i hand made a stand alone Rangemaster. if you want Rory's early sound you will have to but a $400 rangemaster copy or build one your self like i did(really it's a piece of cake). turn the amp's normal chanel volume to max and set the tone cut to middleand the rangemaster to max and you have it. for Rory's modern sound get a dimarzio fs-1 pickup for the bridge and a pickup with '74 specs for the middle a 5 way selector and wire the bottom tone only use a silicon based transistor boost effect(maybe a parametric eq) into a fender or marshall amp. all this is just my reserch and by no means am i trying to get you to buy something from a specific company. i just want you guys and gals to have some fun like i do and BE a little closer to Rory.

Last edited by leprechaun1 on 25 Nov 2013, 00:56, edited 1 time in total.

Hi Leprechaun1! Thank you for information! I have the same Mexican strat as you have but it was made in 2006. Have to say a couple words about my strat. It's sound great. But I wish to get the full set of Fs1+74 pickups soon.Now, after Christmas I wish return to my own project "Hawk Tone Expander II" and try to copy Rangemaster. But amp is... so cheap... Laney LX200, but I have my own cabinete with Celestion green 12'' and a half finished tube amp (copy of bassman).

Every gun makes its own tune..After a meal there's nothing like a good cigar.

hi jim, good to hear from you. on the subject of the fs-1 and the 74 single coil i did some in-depth research about the 74 single coils and why Rory would go with one of those for the middle pup and i may be wrong but i believe the neck pup MAY be original. i sort of came to that conclusion after seeing the picture of the electronics in Rory's strat. apparently in 1974 he changed the bridge pup to a dimarzio fs-1 and the middle to a standard production '74 single coil. the output of the dimarzio fs-1 is around 13k and the '74 pup is around 5.6k. now, the fs-1 is a bit bassy but not too loud as the ohm rating would suggest just a bit more drive. as for the 74 pup i couldn't tell you how it sounds we just have to listen to Rory play. also i noticed by watching the videos of Rory playing he had a standard strat wiring and in the late 70s he had the bridge and middle pups wired to the bottom tone control(see montreaux 77 and 79) and still had the 3 way switch. a bit later he added the 5 way switch and it seems the last mod to the strat was to put all pups under one tone control. a little side note, the single tone control set up on his strat was seriously screwed up. when he turned the tone control down he killed the volume of the guitar without a tone change. watch the last videos he made and you will see/hear. that depresses me. anyway i would LOVE to know about the hawk you are building. i was thinking about a parimetric eq/booster myself.